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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 9

Pros:

Sharpness from f/2, bokeh

Cons:

High barrel distortion, some CA

A lens with a dual personality :

At 1.2-1.4, you get a sharp center but the whole pic looks veiled and dreamy. I could get "underwater" rendering without ever getting wet.

From f/2, it is as sharp as any modern 50mm lens, and handles flare well.

An extremely useful lens that fits many shooting styles, from the creative to the detached/neutral. Much better value, IMHO, than the 50/1.4 or 50/1.8 AIS. Barrel distortion and CA are present but easily corrected in post processing.

Not that suitable though for night shots because of coma wide open ; the widest apertures are for low light (portrait, boudoir, nude...), not to be confused with night photography.

dugong5pm

Registered: October 2012Posts: 52

Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS Nikkor review by dugong5pm

Review Date: 10/14/2012

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $225.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

fast, usable f/1.2, build quality, takes standard 52mm filters

Cons:

none

Nikon'n faster alternative than the usual 50/1.4. It was a luxury back then. I've got this lens along with my Nikon FA. It was like having some piece of japanese luxury. The first thing you'll be noticing is the build quality. It feels solid & sturdy in your hand. The lens is fully loaded with some fine glasses and mostly metal parts. It's good.

Performance is good. You'll get a very usable images wide open, even sometimes you'll get that dreamy look over your images. Well, it's not a Noctillux. The good thing from the old lens designs are that they're using the standardized 52mm filter thread, including this fast 50/1.2.

I would highly recommend this lens for film/analog users or digital bodies with live-view enabled features. For non-live view cameras, focusing can be a serious problem wide open. DoF is hair-thin. You might want to consider installing a split screen on the viewfinder.

DavidNJ

Registered: September 2009Posts: 3

Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AIS Nikkor review by DavidNJ

Review Date: 3/13/2011

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $360.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

Sharp wide open, good color rendition, 9-blade aperture

Cons:

Manual

I use this lens and the AI version (7-blade aperture but 180° of focus rotation) on a Canon 7D. The lens can be used wide open without noticeable sacrifice in image quality on the crop sensor camera. Color rendition is good. It isn't too bulky. Shares 52mm filter ring with other Nikon AIS lenses. On the 7D it is equivalent to 80mm, and makes a good portrait lens. It is one of my favorite lenses and I use it frequently.